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Confessing

             If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (I John 1:9)

             Confess: late 14c., transitive and intransitive, "make avowal or admission of" (a fault, crime, sin, debt, etc.), from Old French confesser (transitive and intransitive), from Vulgar Latin *confessare, a frequentative form from Latin confess-, past participle stem of confiteri "to acknowledge," from assimilated form of com "together" (see con-) + fateri "to admit," akin to fari "speak," from PIE root *bha- (2) "to speak, tell, say."( confess | Etymology, origin and meaning of confess by etymonline)

             Let's take the etymological meaning of confess just a little farther. If one speaks something together with someone else, one is agreeing. To confess one’s sin, therefore, requires that one agree that it is sin. “Yes, I killed him!” might be a confession or a statement of pride or pleasure. The person who says it might even be agreeing with someone who accused her. But for it to be a confession, she would have to agree with the person to whom she says it. Otherwise, it’s more of an admission.

            In today’s passage, we’re talking about agreeing with God that our sins are evil. I’m not sure we can really understand how evil our sins are, but even a step in that direction is a help. And that is what I have about the first five words of today’s passage.

           The next seventeen words are God’s end of the exchange.

He is faithful.

He is just.

He forgives us of our sins.

He purifies us from all unrighteousness.

          The thing about these four actions that struck me today is that they’re voluntary on His part. There’s no sense of God sighing and saying, “There she goes. She’s confessed her sins, now I have to forgive her. Why couldn’t she have kept her big mouth shut and not confessed?” Instead, I suspect He’s like a parent holding a cell phone n camera mode just in case this is the moment we roll over, crawl,  take one of those early first steps, or look up at him, smile, and say, “Abba (Daddy!).”

          The notion that God is some troll to whom we must pay a toll or be eaten is a long-standing lie straight from Hell, but it’s s easy to believe. Part of that might be because we recognize our guilt a little and because we don’t look forward to forgiving. What if we could learn that? What if we could learn to see God as wanting to forgive?

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